Bristol Bears ascent up the Gallagher Premiership table took a giant step upwards on Friday with a 30-12 bonus-point victory over Newcastle Falcons at Ashton Gate to move off the bottom of the table.
Newcastle had the better of the possession and territory but polished performances from scrum-half Harry Randall, who scored a brace of tries to remind new England head coach Steve Borthwick he still has something to offer on the international stage, and half-back partner AJ MacGinty proved the difference as Falcons spurned a number of scoring opportunities.
Chris Vui and Fitz Harding were also on the scoresheet for Bristol - the latter scoring in the 82nd minute to claim the crucial bonus point, with James Williams adding two penalties and two conversions. Gary Graham and Jamie Blamire scored Newcastle’s tries.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears 30-12 Newcastle Falcons LIVE: Reaction from bonus point win at Ashton Gate
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam was quick to praise two of his key tryscorer on the night. He said: “Rands is on fire, he’s really taken hold of the leadership role and I’ve seen Harry take that to another level, and he has a big say in how we control the tempo of the game.”
“Fitz was phenomenal. He’s an excellent rugby player. He’s got really good game sense, understands the game well, comfortable at six, seven and eight. He’s come from the BUCS League, into our academy and he’s just gone from strength to strength, and he does that at training. The way he trains, his mindset, it (the performance) doesn’t shock any of us, that’s just the way he is. “
He continued: "I am very pleased. It took a lot of work, they’re (Newcastle) a good side, a tough side and that was a strong side we played but we had to match that.
"We knew they’ve got a lot of heart, but our role was to take that away, by doing our job, getting on the front foot and we started well. We gave some soft entries and they’re incredible in that area. We defended and defended, gave one try away but after that we kept them out, put them under a lot of pressure, played at the right end of the field and came out strong, keeping the scoreboard ticking over. So all in all, five points, we’re pleased.”
Bristol took the lead in the ninth minute with an excellent try. From a ruck on halfway, a superb break from MacGinty carved the defence apart before his pass sent Joe Batley racing away, with the lock providing the rapid Randall with an easy run-in.
In the heavy rain Bristol struggled all night with their receiving restarts and Newcastle responded immediately with a sustained period of pressure which was rewarded when Graham forced his way over from close range despite the best efforts of Harry Thacker to hold him up.
Connon converted to give Falcons the lead but Bristol were soon back in front when they declined a simple kick at goal in favour of a 5m tap which ended in Vui crashing over.
The players made light of the miserable playing conditions to provide an entertaining and evenly-contested first half-hour before the visitors suffered two injury blows in quick succession. First their full-back Tom Penny limped off before wing Mateo Carreras fail a head injury assessment.
Despite these setbacks, Newcastle had much the better of the closing stages of the first half. Aided by Bristol’s ill-discipline, the visitors camped in the opposition 22 and it took a superb effort from home flanker Harding to prevent Graham from touching down for his second try, holding him up in the corner.
Falcons were made to pay for their profligacy when with the last kick of the half, Williams fired over a penalty to leave his side with a 15-7 lead at the break.
Within two minutes of the restart, Bristol scored a crucial third try. In their own half their opponents lost possession for MacGinty to race away and put the defence on the back foot before Randall took advantage to nip over for his second.
The home side suffered a blow when wing Gabriel Ibitoye was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on, with Newcastle immediately capitalising when Blamire broke away from a driving maul to score in the corner as the England international hooker powered through the attempted tackle of winger Ioan Lloyd.
Ibitoye returned from the sin-bin in time to see Williams extend his side’s lead with a 50m penalty before the host sealed victory with a bonus-point try from Harding with the last play of the game. It was hardly the most clinical score as Bristol had a lineout 10m out stolen only for Falcons to lose control of the ball to allow Harding to steal it, spin out of a tackle and dive over to send Ashton Gate into raptures and send the Bears into derby week with Bath on a high.
Bristol Bears: 15. Noah Heward, 14. Siva Naulago, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Joe Batley, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Fitz Harding, 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements: 16 Fred Davies, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. George Kloska, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Harry Ascherl, 23. Ioan Lloyd.
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (captain); 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Gary Graham, 7 Callum Chick, 8 Carl Fearns.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Logovi’i Mulipola, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 Philip van der Walt, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Alex Tait.
Referee: Karl Dickson (71st Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Craig Maxwell-Keysand Phil Watters.
TMO: Dean Richards.
Citing Officer: Matt Banahan.
Attendance: 16,784
